Over the course of seven studio albums and countless shows around the world, keyboardist Marco Benevento has amassed a devoted fanbase, while drawing praise from tastemakers far and wide. Los Angeles Times has written, “it’s safe to say that no one sees the keyboard quite like Marco Benevento's genre-blind mashup of indie rock, jazz and skewed improvisation," while NPR Music raves that Benevento combines "the thrust of rock, the questing of jazz and the experimental ecstasy of jam," and Rolling Stone praises "the textures and colors available in his keyboards and arsenal of manipulated pedals and effects along with his deceptively rich, catchy melodies and straight-ahead grooves."
Indeed, Marco Benevento’s music covers a wide swath of ground, seemingly connecting the dots in the vast space between LCD Soundsystem and Leon Russell, His songwriting is smart and earthy, yet simultaneously pulsating with dance rock energy. Benevento’s high energy live shows—fronting a three-piece band currently comprised by bassist Karina Rykman and drummer Chris Corsico—have led to numerous high profile appearances, ranging from Carnegie Hall to Pickathon. In the studio, he’s collaborated with the likes of Richard Swift (The Shins, Nathaniel Rateliff), Leon Michels (Lee Fields, Freddie Gibbs) and Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers, The Lumineers) among others.
On his latest album, simply titled, ‘Benevento,’ the Woodstock, NY-based artist dives deep down a psych funk rabbit hole, reimagining the current Zeitgeist of these troubled times through surrealistic optimism and the pure joy of an irresistible groove on tracks like “At The End Or The Beginning,” “Winter Rose” and “Do You Want Some Magic?”
This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz